MS Optical Mouse 4000 Review

(Page 1 of 4 )

Tired of dealing with that pesky force stick or touch pad on your portable computer? Or perhaps you have a desktop system with too many wires between yourself and the machine that you'd like to get rid of? If so, then perhaps a wireless mouse is just what you need. Today I am reviewing the Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000.

The need

I have recently been issued a laptop computer for work, a Dell Pentium III with touch pad. While I prefer the touch pad to the force stick on my IBM home laptop, the scroll bar in conjunction with the force stick is kind of nice. I must say that I don't really like either, for the most part-there are too many things that I can't do efficiently with either that I can with a three button scroll mouse.

Knowing how much my family uses the Logitech V200 I reviewed previously (maybe that's why this article seems somewhat familiar...), I decided to invest in a second cordless mouse to keep in the work laptop's carrying case. I say "invest" because I once again spent more than the $20 I would have normally thrown down for a cheapo cordless at the local *mart.

The pretentiously named Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse 4000 (I will shorten that to MS 4000) put me back $39 at Office Max after a $10 in-store discount.

The MS 4000 is a smallish gray and black mouse with two main buttons, a thumb-button and a scroll wheel, which is a left scroll, right scroll and center button. The USB transceiver is about two inches long and snaps into a recessed spot on the bottom of the mouse when not in use. The mouse will not quite sit flat with the transceiver stored, however. Once stored, the transceiver turns off the mouse, thus saving battery life. The packaging claims that the batteries will last more than six months, as opposed to the year-long battery life of the Logitech I reviewed previously.

Speaking of batteries, this guy uses a single AA alkaline, which goes in a tray that slides into the mouse on the palm side. The package includes an Energizer battery, so you are ready to rock once you get the package open.